Month: March 2011

It’s the 25th anniversary of South by Southwest. This is the year that the newer Interactive part of the fest became the biggest part of the event, attracting more official attendees than the film or music portions. And the film fest attracted more name actors and directors than ever. But to me it’s still all about the music. And beyond the high-profile big-venue appearances here by Foo Fighters, Duran Duran, the Strokes and Kanye West, I found the best music in the smallest rooms.

Here are some of the groups that caught my attention in the first two days of SXSW. Coming tomorrow, the best of the rest of the week.

Jon Russell and Josiah Johnson of The Head and the Heart at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop, Austin home for radio broadcasts for Seattle radio station KEXP.

The Head and the Heart
Hometown: Seattle, Wash.Listen here
In a festival absolutely dominated by the electric guitar, the Head and the Heart joyously countered with the instrument of their choosing: the human voice. This Seattle quintet’s three-part harmonies and infectious sing-along choruses are what lifts its show-tunesy Americana above the fray. The members found each other at an open mic, released their own album and got on the NPR buzz-wagon before being discovered by indie super-label Sub Pop. On the road to Austin, they got a chance to share stages with the likes of the Decemberists and Dr. Dog and they already have the onstage sureness of a headlining veteran.

Daniel Blumberg of Yuck in another KEXP broadcast show at Mellow Johnny’s.

Yuck
Hometown: London, England Listen here
Every SXSW has a band everyone must see, a notch for all the hipster belts. Where the White Stripes, the Kaiser Chiefs and Vampire Weekend once trod, this year came Yuck. Leaders Daniel Blumberg and Max Bloom, barely 21, are both veterans of this rarified air, having pricked critics’ ears as members of Cajun Dance Party. They’re still so young that the relatively recent bands their music recalls — Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr — may have come to them from their parents’ collections. The variety of apparent influences is reflected in the band’s myriad sounds: jangly folk, noisy grime, crunchy indie rock. The potential mob scene to get into their Austin shows was eased a bit by the whopping eight-show schedule they lined up, including four shows on the festival’s first day.Continue Reading →

Editor’s note: We’re days away from opening day, and just in nick of time, our very own Jeremy Owens decided to review MLB 2K11. Here’s what he thought.

By Jeremy Owens
Guest reviewer

Baseball is a simple game. Throw the ball, hit the ball, catch the ball.
Could somebody get that message to the designers of MLB 2K11?

Once again, the makers of the excellent NBA 2K series have failed to make an equivalently enjoyable baseball game, mostly because it tries to get too fancy with the controls. The hitting interface is especially difficult. It is controlled with both analog sticks — the player has to decide with the left analog stick if he wants to pull the ball, go the other way, attempt to hit the ball in the air or put it on the ground, then use the right stick to actually swing the bat. For even more confusion, a power swing involves an opposite motion, pushing the right analog stick down before pushing it up to swing; after playing several games, I hit no home runs and still couldn’t figure out if I was supposed to use the left analog stick and/or pull back on the right analog stick for power as the pitcher was winding up or just before I swung.

All these motions and decisions must be made in little more than a second or two, along with deciding the timing of your swing based on the pitch’s speed. “Difficult” would be a very nice way to describe the process of learning how to hit; “ridiculously annoying and impossible” would be more blunt. The only good part about all of this is that the hitter’s swing does change based on your actions, so when you completely fail (which will happen a lot), you can use the Swing Analyzer to get a good laugh at Pablo Sandoval swinging like a confused fifth-grader.

“The Office” has been kind of hit-or-miss the last couple of seasons, but the show delivered a great moment Thursday night when Michael proposed to Holly with his usual flair for the dramatic. The writers and actors fashioned a scene that was both romantic and goofy, which, of course, perfectly fits the characters (a little Yoda lingo never hurts).

It will be fun to see what the show does to send Steve Carell out over the next few weeks. We’re also looking forward to Will Ferrell’s four-episode story arc. Should be a blast.

The Mortal Kombat reboot is being released April 19, and Bay Area fans have a chance to play it a little early this weekend. There’s going to be a specially designed Mortal Kombat truck rolling through the streets and stopping at local Best Buys this weekend. (Let’s hope it doesn’t rain that much.) You have to be at least 17 years old to have some hands-on time with the game. Other than that, you just have to be at the following locations at these times:

Casey Abrams will live to howl and growl for at least another week on “American Idol.”

Abrams, the intense 20-year-old from Southern California, was this week’s lowest vote-getter, but he won’t be leaving the show because the judges used their one and only “save” of the season to keep him in the competition.

“This is crazy wrong,” declared Steven Tyler of the fan vote before delivering the good news to Casey, who was overcome with emotion.

“Are you kidding?” the singer asked. “I can’t believe it.”

What this means is that all 11 remaining finalists will be on the “Idol” summer tour, which is usually limited to 10. The bad news? Two contestants will be sent packing next week — with no hope of being saved by the judges.

Viewers knew they were in for a suspenseful night when host Ryan Seacrest told the audience early on that the vote result “may shock you.” Abrams had been tabbed as an early “Idol” early favorite, but he wound up in the Bottom 3 for the first time, along with Thia Megia and Stefano Langone.

The fan vote might have been a message to Casey that it’s time to cut down on the guttural growling and get back to actual singing — a message that the judges reiterated.

“Let people feel your soul,” urged Jennifer Lopez.

Both the judges and contestants registered looks of shock when Casey’s name was called by Seacrest. But Casey was only a few bars into what could have been his swan song when the judges interrupted to announce their decision to keep him around.

All the drama capped off an action-packed show that featured performances by Stevie Wonder, Sugarland and Jennifer Hudson.

So what did you think of Thursday’s results show? Did the judges make the right decision to use the save? Or do you think Casey should have been sent packing?

The female stars of the newest Zack Snyder action film is a very impressive list of very sexy women. We do we start? Here is the star list: Carla Gugino, Jena Malone, Abbie Cornish, Emily Browning, Jamie Chung, and Vanessa Hudgens.

Also featured today: Duran Duran rocks out in Los Angeles; David Lynch likes to hang out with Marilyn Manson; and Emmy Rossum hawks Suave Professionals products. Does she really need this gig?

To coincide with the start of the 2011 Major League Baseball season, Showtime will offer a sneak preview of “The Franchise: A Season With the San Francisco Giants,” its new documentary series featuring the World Series champs.

The 30-minute preview is set to air at 9:30 p.m., April 13. But fans will have to wait until July 13 for the full series to premiere (time TBA).

Showtime promises that the series will give viewers a front row seat into the lives of the players, coaches and team personnel as they begin the task of defending their World Series title.

“The Franchise” is a collaboration between Showtime and MLB Productions, and is currently in production in Scottsdale, Arizona, home of the Giants’ spring training camp. The series will be shot over the course of eight months and will have cameras embedded with the team during the first half of the regular season.

Somewhere Berry Gordy had to be smiling. The “American Idol” contestants took on the oh-so golden oldies of Motown Wednesday night and, for the most part, hit the right notes.

The judges seemed to be sweet on just about everybody, meaning we could have our first real nail-biter of a results show come Thursday night.

Sure, there were performances that stood out from the Top 11 crowd, including James Durbin’s high-voltage take on Stevie Wonder’s “Living For the City.” Jennifer Lopez called it “an incredible thing to watch” and told the Santa Cruz rocker, “you leave me speechless.”

But Durbin had a lot of company in the raves department. Casey Abrams (“I Heard It Through the Grapevine”), Naima Adedapo (“Dancing In the Streets”) and Scotty McCreery (“For Once in My Life”) all impressed the panel, and Jacob Lusk soared so high on Marvin Gaye’s “You’re All I Need to Get By” that he had Steven Tyler leaping out of his seat to give him a hug.

It was also a good night for Thia Megia. The 16-year-old resident of Mountain House had taken her lumps last week after falling into a rut of ballads that Randy Jackson found boring. Wednesday, she rebounded with with an uptempo offering of Martha and the Vandellas’ “Heatwave” that was solid if not spectacular.

Said Lopez, “It was great to see you let loose like that.”

No one really blew it on what was the best performance night of the season so far, although former Bay Area resident Stefano Langone’s take on Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello” lacked the “wow” factor. Also, Pia Toscano’s version of Stevie Wonder’s ballad “All in Love is Fair” was a bit of a snoozer.

“I know you can do it,” Jackson told her. “The next time bring something a little bit different to the thing.”

Thursday night’s elimination round is a key one because the remaining 10 contestants all qualify for the “Idol” summer concert tour.

So let us know your thoughts about Motown night. Who had the breakout performances? And who do you think needs to pack their bags?

You can’t exactly get a real hands-on impression of the Nintendo 3DS without actually having the system in your hands. In fact, you can’t even even get a real eyes-on impressions because of the 3-D screen. The next best thing I can offer folks is this video, which shows co-workers initial reactions to seeing the system. I gave them the system and videotaped it. Keep in mind, this isn’t the gamer crowd. It’s a large swathe of people. Some had no idea what the Nintendo 3DS was or what they would be viewing.

As I mentioned in my review, the reactions differed for every person. Some people loved the 3-D; others hated it. It’s one of the reasons I say that the 3-D is not for everyone.

Charlie Sheen surprises Jimmy Kimmel and his audience with a big smooch for the late night talk show host.

Also featured today: Chris Brown doesn’t look happy being interviewed on “Good Morning America;” Monica Bellucci is still the most beautiful woman on the planet; and Guy Pearce is the luckiest man alive. What man doesn’t want Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood on their arms at a film premiere.